The present invention relates to a new and distinct variety of peach tree (Prunus persica, Batsch.) named `Croft`. My new peach tree produces semi-freestone fruit which matures about the same time as fruit from `Early Redhaven` (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 2,343) peach trees, in middle to late July in Wenatchee, Wash., and has outstanding resistance to peach leaf curl disease.
In 1978, the inventor moved onto the property on Tiger Mountain, about 30 miles east of Seattle, Wash. A few years later, some peach seeds germinated in the compost pile located in a cultivated area and one of them exhibited no leaf curl symptoms, while others either succumbed to the disease or were severely infected every year.
The original tree, plagued annually by deer and bears, continues to grow, virtually free of leaf curl, and to produce good quality fruit every year. The climate in this area is very conducive to leaf curl disease, with an average of about sixty inches of rainfall annually, much of it during the winter and spring period when leaf curl commonly attacks peaches and nectarines.
In 1986, after observing that the tree appeared for several years to be free of leaf curl and that the fruit appeared to be of high quality, the inventor contacted Washington State University's Northwestern Washington Research and Extension Unit at Mount Vernon, Wash., requesting an evaluation of this seedling variety. At the inventor's request and direction, the new variety was grafted at that location in 1990 onto seedling peach trees (`Lovell` variety) and has been evaluated there annually since that time. Third generation grafted trees produced asexually at that location in 1996 are presently being evaluated in replicated plots.
In addition, a single tree was grafted in August 1995 for observation at the home of Dr. R. A. Norton, retired director of the WSU research facility in Mount Vernon, Wash. The home is located in East Wenatchee, Wash. East Wenatchee is characterized by a high desert type arid climate (about ten inches of annual rainfall, cold winters and hot summers). Many fruit orchards exist in the Wenatchee, Wash. area. This tree fruited heavily in 1997-2000 with excellent quality peaches and no leaf curl despite the fact that no fungicide was applied to the trees. This resistance exceeds that of any so-called "leaf curl resistant" variety grown in the area, including `Frost` peach, which is the most common leaf curl resistant variety currently being grown.
The leaves of my new variety lack glands. This is in contrast to leaf curl susceptible peach varieties, including `Early Redhaven,` with various types of glands. This resistance exceeds that of any so-call "leaf curl resistance" variety grown in the area, including `Frost` peach (unpatented), which is the most common leaf curl resistant variety currently being grown.
The fruit produced on these second and third generation trees, which were produced by grafting from the original tree, in both western Washington (Mount Vernon) and central Washington (East Wenatchee) were in all respects identical to those on the original tree at Tiger Mountain. Thus, we have confirmed that the new variety reproduces true through asexual means (grafting) at two locations.